1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer and communications systems.
2. Description of the Background Art
Web threats encompass a broad array of threats that originate from web sites on the Internet. For example, a web site may a “phish” site. A “phish” site is a fraudulent site that attempts to trick a user into providing sensitive information, such as credit card information, or user names and passwords. As another example, a web site may be a source of malicious code. Computer viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware are examples of malicious code. Malicious code may, for example, corrupt or delete important files, send e-mails without user authorization, render a computer inoperable, or cause other types of damage to a computer. Malicious code may be communicated between computers, for example, by transferring files that include the code.
While technology has been developed to help protect users from the above web threats, there appears to be ineffective or very limited technology to protect users from viewing unwanted images over the web. For example, some people are afraid of spiders and seeing images that contain spiders may make them very uncomfortable. As another example, most parents want to protect their children from seeing pornographic or excessively gruesome images on the web. Hence, there is a strong need to protect users from accidentally seeing unwanted images over the web. Since web sites with unwanted or offensive images may be normal and virus-free, current technologies such as web reputation, do not serve to adequately protect users from accidentally viewing such images.